Self Employed Mileage

henrygregory

Hi there, as of April 14 I have started working part time self-employed.

I currently drive to my jobs (which all last at least half a day) from home and then back again.
I need to keep a track of the mileage I am doing whilst going to and from work.

I was thinking of recording things on an excel sheet with the following headings:

Date, From (address), To (Address), Mileage Traveled,

Would this be enough or should I be recording other things??

PasturesNew

That's enough.

henrygregory

PasturesNew wrote: »

That's enough.

Thanks. I have also recorded my vehicle mileage when I started working self employed, and will do at the end of the financial year so I can work out what has been work mileage and what %age was pleasure.

Mistral001

henrygregory wrote: »

Thanks. I have also recorded my vehicle mileage when I started working self employed, and will do at the end of the financial year so I can work out what has been work mileage and what %age was pleasure.

Just the business miles are enough, all the rest will be personal or unconnected with the business an are irrelevant.

skivenov

I just keep a notebook in the car and write the milage at the end of the journey, the date, and whether it's work or private. All the tax man asks for is a number, but if I ever get checked, I can tally it against the diary.

henrygregory

...I feel like a bit of an idiot. Someone said to me today, have I been keeping my fuel receipts. No, I had not even thought about it. Would this be a problem? I have been keeping a note of all of my mileages but never my fuel receipts.

I am very organised though, and maybe if I did need my receipts, my organisation will have helped as I always, always buy my fuel from Tesco every week, and I always always use my Tesco Creditcard for fuel (because of the clubcard points) and for nothing else.
My credit card statement shows every amount of fuel I have ever purchased.

Could someone clarify if I need the receipts?

zygurat789

There are two main ways of claiming for motor expenses. The 45p/25p per mile or the % of total costs. The first method is simple and cost effective for an older vehicle or where there is a low business/private mileage ratio and the second is cost effective for a newish or expensive vehicle or where there is a high business & low private mileage ratio. You have to do your sums and make your choice.
If you opt for the former then fuel receipts don't matter, service receipts with mileage figures are much better.
If you opt for te latter you should keep all receipts for all expenses claimed.
It's all a question of third party proof of your claim.

Aquamania

henrygregory wrote: »

...I feel like a bit of an idiot. Someone said to me today, have I been keeping my fuel receipts. No, I had not even thought about it. Would this be a problem? I have been keeping a note of all of my mileages but never my fuel receipts.

I am very organised though, and maybe if I did need my receipts, my organisation will have helped as I always, always buy my fuel from Tesco every week, and I always always use my Tesco Creditcard for fuel (because of the clubcard points) and for nothing else.
My credit card statement shows every amount of fuel I have ever purchased.

Could someone clarify if I need the receipts?

If you are claiming for a fixed mileage allowance you don't need any receipts, just a record of trips/mileage exclusively for business purposes as you proposed in post#1

The exception is if you are vat registered (and operating under the conventional vat system) you will need the fuel receipts to reclaim the vat on the fuel used for business trips.
(Credit card receipts are not usually VAT receipts)


Remember that commuting is not a tax deductable expense, even for the self employed. You might want to double check with HMRC if your trips to and from work are considered allowable.
(It depends on the specific circumstances)

antrobus

henrygregory wrote: »

.......Could someone clarify if I need the receipts?

I believe the answer depends on what tax regime you are talking about.

For VAT purposes, I think it's the case, that were you to reclaim the VAT input element of the 45p a mile (which you can), you have to retain enough fuel receipts to cover that claim. Obviously, if you are not registered for VAT, then you can forget that.

londonTiger

I forgot to claim mileage frequently. I just post big long haul journeys - but truth be said every time I pop over to toolstation to grab supplies for business (lots of rivets, nuts, spray aerosols for business fixtures & fittings) I should jot these down.

londonTiger

antrobus wrote: »

I believe the answer depends on what tax regime you are talking about.

For VAT purposes, I think it's the case, that were you to reclaim the VAT input element of the 45p a mile (which you can), you have to retain enough fuel receipts to cover that claim. Obviously, if you are not registered for VAT, then you can forget that.

you can reclaim vat on items up to 4/5 years before registration I beleive. Its worth keeping the receipts and claiming with the business gets big enough and you're hitting above the threshold.